Charlie begs Jack to hack into George’s mind because Charlie’s got trust problems.
Word count: 1,209
"Oh please, please, please, Jack!" Charlie pleaded. "Can't you read George's mind for me? Even for a second?"
Jack took a sip from his apple juice before setting it down on the dining table. He raised an eyebrow at Charlie, who sat across from him. Begging. Charlie hasn’t even touched his complimentary apple juice.
No response. "Please!" Charlie clasped his hands together and rested his elbows on the table. He leaned his entire body towards Jack. Charlie's wings sprung out, almost hitting the hanging lanterns above them. "I need it for-"
"I already know what you need it for. To find out if George likes you back, or just the general state of George's love life right now," Jack said, crossing his arms.
Though they were great friends, Jack didn't particularly like hanging out with only Charlie. Charlie's mind is cluttered, with 100 paths and objectives; a maze, a labyrinth. It's too messy for Jack to grip onto and read. His powers simply slide off of Charlie's brain and fall onto the floor with a splat. And that made his powers useless. It made him feel powerless.
But he didn't need to use his abilities to find Charlie's reason for coming here. It was written on his face.
Charlie's face reddened. He jolted back into his chair with a huff. A few feathers puffed off and onto the wooden floor.
A cold breeze brushed against Jack's skin. He could see, in his peripheral vision, a pen starting to float.
"Where is George, anyway?" Jack asked.
"Near the northern docks."
"That's not too far away. About a 5 minute stroll there. I don't think I'll even have to leave my cottage."
"So you'll do it?!"
Jack leaned back into his chair. "Why not? Anything for a buddy pal chum like you."
The pen that was floating was now spinning in random directions at a dangerous speed. A smile grew on Charlie's face. "Thanks so much!"
"In 10 minutes, I'll give you the answer," Jack said. Charlie got up from his seat, ignoring the complimentary apple juice. He backed up a few meters, staring into the open skylight above the kitchen. Before spreading his wings and speeding through the skylight like a bullet.
----
Resting himself on a pillow on the wooden floor, Jack rested his muscles. Closed his eyes.
George was swinging his legs over the waves near the northern dock. George's mind was clear (for once). The man was focused on the sound of the waves. A clear mind. A mind with no current objective. A vulnerable mind.
Easily as pie, Jack pried the surface of George's mind. Halls, some going up, down, diagonally, left, right. Yet, not a maze. Most lead to dead ends, or back to where you started.
A clear mind. A vulnerable mind. Easily he shouted, yet whispered, into the back of George's thoughts,
"Who do you most desire?"
3 voices started talking. A family based voice, a socially based voice, and a personally based voice.
"I desire for my mum's hug. I want her back. I want to be a kid aga-."
"I desire for Matt. And his pumpkin pie. Mostly his pumpkin pie-”
"I desire for Charlie to be here. But I'm probably a nuisance to him. I've been asking him to assist me in training for the past 2 weeks. I want him. He's fun. He sticks out from the others and I don't know wh-."
"Do you love Charlie?"
In real life, George froze. His muscles tensed. His breathing became staggered and inconsistent. And everything else but his thoughts seemed to disappear into the wind.
"I do. Oh no, oh god this is-"
That's all that Jack needed to collect. The hallways of George's mind shrunk, until there was only darkness.
Jack opened his eyes. He recollected his laggy breathing and stretched arms. He gazed to the clock. 9 minutes have passed. On schedule!
---
Jack raced down the stone path to Charlie's home.
Above the canopy of the forest was a treehouse. A treehouse, secured in a large oak tree that Rhianna had grown into a tremendous size. The treehouse was the size of a suburban house. With no ladder or stairs, here was no way for a ground-dweller like Jack to get up there.
Jack walked off-path and picked up a rock the size of his hand. Closing one eye to aim, he flung the rock at the house. It hit the side of the house with a PAK.
A man with two great wings bursted out of the wooden front window. Jack waved to Charlie with a smile.
Charlie's body hurled into Jack. The both of them rolling onto the dewey grass. They burst into laughter. Well, at least Jack. Because Charlie's hands were shaking as he helped Jack up.
"So? So...?" Charlie asked Jack.
Jack dusted himself off. "He has a crush on you."
Charlie gasped. His wings refused to close. "What? Really? No-. You must be lying..."
Jack shrugged with a smirk. "I physically can't lie."
"What about that one time you pretended to be God and tricked David?"
Jack's smirk disappeared. "Uh, do you want to know your answer or not?"
"I want to know!" Charlie begged.
"He has a crush on you. I swear on my dead body."
"I don't believe you. I'm not a baby, Jack! I can handle rejection!"
He's a brick wall. Won't budge, Jack thought. If only he could implant it in Charlie's mind. But he couldn’t. And that's what's frustrating.
"If you don't believe me," Jack began, crossing his arms. "I'll show you!" Jack grabbed Charlie's hand and led him to the nearest railway station.
Using Will's railway project, they traveled to the George's house, which doubled as a restaurant. The man lived in the shopping area. An area where the 8 members would trade services or sell things. George owned a restaurant to compete with Matt and Dan's 'cursed food' shop. Unlike Matt and Dan, George made edible things.
"I still don't believe you," Charlie muttered. The two stood in front of the restaurant, which clearly had "CLOSED" on the front. But they can both see George, sitting in one of the booths, inside. He was staring at nothing. He was deep in thought. And Jack could tell, thinking about his love.
Jack opened the door. The little bell making a pleasant jingle. "Charlie is here," Jack announced.
George pounced to his feet, his mouth ajar. "Uh," he muttered. "Hel... Hello... We're closed."
"We didn't come here for that," Jack said. He approached George with his back straight and hands behind him. He leaned into George's ear. "Charlie wants to talk to you."
George skipped across the room to Charlie, trying to hide his blush. Until the two got close enough to be breathing down each other's necks. Jack shoved George's back. George fell into Charlie's arms. They fell on the floor with no struggle. Charlie's timid body under George's mass. They laid shocked for a second.
Jack will never understand how human emotions work. He thought that, when he saw George and Charlie making out with the most passion a human could possibly have. Though, disgusted, his work was done.
Some classic, short, sweet banter between the Soots (excluding Rhianna and Matt, sadly).
Word Count: 442
“I don’t know, mate,” Wilbur collapsed onto the bean bag. The other Soots kept to their own around the hangout, which doubled as a public library. “I just NEED to know what my original element was. But I’ll never remember. There was a point where I knew what it was. But I don’t anymore. And that’s the frustrating part.”
“Maybe your element was music,” David, who was the only one listening, said with a reassuring smile. “That’ll be cool.” He plopped himself in the bean bag next to Will.
Will shrugged. “Pretty useless. Just a sub-element of your element. What am I gonna do if we’re attacked? While you can blow someone’s ears out until they literally bleed, I’m stuck playing Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby.’“ They both gazed to Charlie.
“What special qualities do you have?” David asked.
“You’re asking that as if we just met,” Will replied.
Dan rolled the swivel chair near the two. “Gay.”
“Thanks, Daniel,” Will said.
“No prob,” Dan said, rolling away.
Will turned back to David. “I disagree when you say that you can determine someone’s element by their ‘special qualities’. What special qualities does George have in relation to poison, for example?”
“He smells. Bad,” Charlie said, falling into the bean bag next to David.
“Well, what about you, Charlie?” Will began. “What do you have in relation to air?”
“He’s an airhead,” Dan butted in.
“I’m quite loud,” David admitted. “That’s my special quality.”
Will put his hands to his head in frustration. “But you’re loud BECAUSE of your element. It’s not your quality affecting the element it’s the element affecting the qua-”
“What are you three talking about, anyway?” Dan asked.
“We’re bullying George,” Charlie said. “So, George is toxic as hell because-”
---
“I sense a disturbance in the library,” George said, perking his head above the shelves to look at the other Soots.
“Will wants to discuss his past element,” Jack observed outloud. “But... Dan wants to muck around because he’s bored, Charlie wants to playfully bully you, and David wants to talk about how amazing music is.”
George sighed. “It’s always Charles.”
“He’s doing it as a joke.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” George said, rolling his eyes.
“Then why didn’t you act like that the last time Charlie was playfully bullying you? You sucked toxins from a nearby tree and flung the slush at him. Thankfully he flew away just in time. He would have died, Sherlock,” Jack mocked.
“Yeah, huh? But what about that one time you pretended to be God-”
“Can we just get over that? Please?” Jack whined.
“’WE?’ No sir. It’s all you.”
Jack grumbled. “I pretended to be God ONCE!”
“And I almost killed Charlie once. So, we’re even?” George asked.
